Renasant Bank is taking a different tact in DeSoto County under new leadership and a streamlined management philosophy.

Former Commercial Bank & Trust lender Shawn Clayton is Renasant’s new division president. Shane McLarty joined in the newly created No. 2 position of senior vice president/corporate relationship officer, coming from BancorpSouth Bank in Southaven. Both worked together previously as commercial lenders during Clayton’s six-year stint at BancorpSouth before Clayton went to CB&T to open its loan production office.

CB&T closed that office this summer after three years.

The changes at Renasant come after former DeSoto County market president Ken Purvis and its senior commercial lender Jack Talbert left for Sycamore Bank as market president and vice president, respectively.

The changes at Renasant are just the latest in a tumultuous period in DeSoto County banking, with some created directly by economic factors — such as halting new retail branch construction and complete exits from the market by lenders — and others more indirectly, like a jostling for experienced talent who know the market.

McLarty and Clayton, both 36, fit that mold.

McLarty, an Olive Branch native who played football at Olive Branch High School, will be responsible for marketing Renasant’s four DeSoto County branches as well as building relationships with existing bank customers and developing new corporate business. Clayton will be tasked with growing the bank’s footprint and deposit market share, which grew to 10.23 percent in 2009 with $191.8 million in deposits, up from 4.26 percent in 2008 with $71.4 million in deposits.

As of late September, deposits were running around $193 million. Renasant moved to No. 4 in deposit market share from No. 8, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A big part of Clayton’s and Renasant’s new DeSoto County strategy will be to market the bank as one entity and not individual branches that end up competing against each other, he says.

“My philosophy is it’s one county,” Clayton says. “That’s the one core thread I want to promote: We’re one.”

McLarty says there will also be a shift away from relying solely on real estate to drive lending because first, it’s a market that’s currently not strong and, secondly, it’s a crowded area.

“That’s the elephant everyone was hunting,” he says.

Instead, Renasant is going to diversify its lending tactics, branching into a more private banking approach by courting the medical community and small businesses, areas Clayton says he honed while at Commercial Bank & Trust.

“We want to make sure we’re more relationship-driven than transactions,” McLarty says.

Doug Davis, assistant vice president at First Security Bank in Hernando, and one of the county’s two state senators, agrees DeSoto County banking has been fast changing, but that’s not unexpected.

“Prior to 2008 there was so much potential here. We were very fortunate,” Davis says. “Banking stood to gain the most so when the housing market stopped we stood to lose the most.”

All of the market shuffling of talent and holding onto capital are simply steps to prepare for when the economy rebounds, Davis says. When that happens, DeSoto County will explode once again.

Clayton agrees.

“As the economy rebounds, I think DeSoto County will see a quicker rebound than others,” he says.